


By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell

by allyavenue



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 16:59:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyavenue/pseuds/allyavenue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The door was opened, and a woman with bright green eyes and impossibly curly hair was revealed.  She held a large black umbrella over one of her shoulders to fend the rain off, and carried a black leather briefcase that was a bit battered around the edges, but impressive nonetheless.  There was something about this woman, from the knowing look in her eyes to the confident way she stood that sparked a flame of recognition in Craig’s brain, although he was certain that he had never seen this woman in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after making a post on tumblr about the possibilities if a River Song spinoff show were to happen. I think this would fit right in. Please let me know what you think, thank you. :) Title from Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen.

The day the Doctor left, it rained.  The morning had been sunny and cheerful, full of post-victory euphoria and happy reuniting with his wife.  But then the rain came, falling from rumbling, thundering clouds and slapping the pavement as if it were trying to prove something.  The windows were spattered with droplets and the roof took quite a hammering, blocking out any words that would be spoken.  Children who had been playing in the streets ran home to the comfort of their mums and dads.  This was a storm that was not to be messed with, but only tolerated, which was why it was such a surprise when Craig Owens heard his doorbell ring.

Well, he didn’t hear it ring.  Not the first time, anyways.  The rain pounded so violently on the roof, and the thunder growled so menacingly in the sky that it felt as if nature were inside his very head, his own private storm.

After the fifth and rather annoyed ringing of the doorbell, Craig finally realized that there was someone outside.  

he asked himself  For a moment, he wondered if the Doctor had come back.  Craig’s guess wasn’t very far from the truth.  The door was opened, and a woman with bright green eyes and impossibly curly hair was revealed.  She held a large black umbrella over one of her shoulders to fend the rain off, and carried a black leather briefcase that was a bit battered around the edges, but impressive nonetheless.  There was something about this woman, from the knowing look in her eyes to the confident way she stood that sparked a flame of recognition in Craig’s brain, although he was certain that he had never seen this woman in his life.  

Before he could speak, the woman reached into her coat and pulled out an ID.  “Hello,”  She said in a businesslike voice, but with a bit of warmth.  “My name is River Song.  I’m from the University of Luna in the year 5126 and I am conducting research for my dissertation on the man known as the Doctor.  May I come in?”

Craig stood in a state of pure confusion, trying to make sense of everything this woman-River Song-had told him.  She was from the future, and while the concept of space and time travel was not foreign to him ever since he met the Doctor, Craig still had a hard time wrapping his head around it.  The woman could be lying of course, because who in their right mind would believe someone who claimed to be from the future?  But River also seemed to know of the Doctor, and Craig happened to be worried about the Doctor, so the simplest course of action seemed to be letting her in.

This was how Craig found himself asking, “Tea?”

River smiled gratefully and shook her umbrella off before entering the Owens household and shaking his hand.  From the look on her face, River had no doubt that she would be accepted inside.  “How very kind of you.  Cream and sugar would be lovely.”  River cleared her throat and held her briefcase in front of them to indicate a change in subject.  “Now then, onto business.  When is the last time you’ve seen the Doctor?”

Craig answered eagerly while walking into the kitchen to make their tea.  “A few hours ago.  There were all these cybermen and-”

River cut him off with a serene nod of her head.  “I know, dear.  I’ve researched almost everything about the Doctor’s last victory.  I’ve got eyewitness accounts of him just before he left, and footage from the shop where the cybermen were located.  I’m only missing one thing, and that’s you.”

Craig looked up from pouring tea and stared at River, mouth agape.  Somewhere in the house, Alfie began to cry.  “Me?  What do you need me for?  Did-did you say his last victory?”  Something cold settled in his chest.  “What happened to the Doctor?”

River sighed and bit her lip, the typical expression of someone who has been found out.  “Something has happened to the Doctor, you’re right.  And Mr. Owens, you may want to sit down, because it is not at all good.”

This was how Craig found himself sitting at his own table, being served his own tea by a stranger.  “What happened to the Doctor ?”  He repeated with a sense of surmounting dread.  River sat with pursed lips and began slowly, as if explaining the death of a beloved pet to a child.

“There have been rumors since anyone could remember.  Rumors about a man and an impossible astronaut, about a lake called Silencio.  The man is the Doctor, the lake is in Utah, but the astronaut is a mystery.”  River shrugged pointedly.  “It’s just a story anyways.  But every story has some amount of truth to it.  Some accounts state that on April 22, 2011, the Doctor dies.”

Craig stared at a point over River’s shoulder while digesting all of what he had been told.  During the duration of the Doctor’s stay, Craig had been suspicious of his friend.  The Doctor had seemed darker, sadder.  There had even been a moment late the night before, when Craig’s mind was already slipping into dreams just as water slips down a stream, when the Doctor had admitted something to him.  Craig hadn’t been able to remember what the Doctor had said, but now that River was there, the pieces were beginning to come together.  “He-he said something about going to America.”  Craig said quietly.  He looked at River skeptically, refusing to believe what he was told.  “Who are you anyways?  How would you know about the Doctor?!”

Despite Craig’s outburst, River remained quite calm, even sipping at her tea and raising an eyebrow.  Her calm state did nothing to pacify Craig, though it did make him feel silly for acting so childishly.  “I told you, my name is River Song.  The Doctor is my...friend.”  Her lips twisted up in a smirk for a moment.  “But I’m working toward my doctorate at the University of Luna in the year 5126.  Come now, you can’t tell me time travel surprises you.  You’ve met the Doctor, after all.  I’m just a smarter and slightly more attractive Doctor.”  Another smirk.  ‘Well, I say slightly.  And I won’t be an actual doctor unless I finish this paper.  Now, please tell me everything you know about the Doctor, and describe your last encounter with him.”  River reached into her briefcase and pulled out a tape recorder.  “It’s an antique.”  She supplied while setting it in front of Craig and pressing the start button.  “Now, about the Doctor?”

Craig cleared his throat, took a sip of tea, swilled it in his mouth, swallowed, and finally began recounting his latest adventure with the Doctor.  He left out some parts, such as the almost-kiss in the elevator, but kept all of the important parts in his story.  When he was finished a good half hour later, River nodded and packed her equipment away.  She stood and smiled warmly at Craig, as if the two had not just been discussing the death of their friend.  

“Thank you very much, Craig.  This information will help me a good deal, and I’ll be sure to let the Doctor know that you said hello when I see him.”

Craig nodded and walked River to the door.  Instead of opting for the normal way to exit, however, she took an odd looking watch from her briefcase and strapped it to her wrist.  

Craig thought to himself.  While River entered coordinates into her accessory, Craig felt a burning question find it’s way out of his mouth.  

“The Doctor can’t really die, can he?”

River looked up bemusedly.  “Hm?”

“Well, he can’t die.  He’s the Doctor, that’s not what he does.”

River regarded Craig with a mixture of pity and empathy.  “Oh Craig, that’s what he thought too.”

There was a crack, a flash of light, and then River was gone in a puff of smoke.

****  
  



End file.
